Noctua fimbriata (Schreber, 1759)

Host plants:The larvae are polyphagous, in the spring often Rubus and other shrubs. The young caterpillars feed preferredly on grasses. So I met wintered, already feeding caterpillars in clumps of Avenella flexuosa in late February (low Black forest).

Habitat:Noctua fimbriata is an ubiquist, but occurs often on forest edges, in woodlands with rich understory and in loose shrub associations.

Life cycle:The caterpillar overwinters and can be searched with a pocket lamp in spring (April, early May) when they climb young trees to devour the buds. During the day, I found caterpillars in late February or early March under rocks in a xerothermous quarry, under dead leaves in a hedge and at the foot of walls under dead plants. The moths fly in the summer. I found eggs in September at leaf undersides of Salix cinerea. In the autumn the caterpillars usually appear only in the course of October when tapping the herbaceous layer.

Remarks: Noctua fimbriata is common and not threatened. The distribution extends across much of Europe and at least Western Asia.